


Exquisite Experience

by ami_ven



Series: NCIS/Firefly [3]
Category: Firefly, NCIS
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Pre-Series, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22985593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: Waiting for the Browncoats to be processed after the war, Zoe meets an interesting man.
Relationships: Zoe Washburne/Ducky Mallard
Series: NCIS/Firefly [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1651879
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Exquisite Experience

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a (very late) birthday present for LJ user "bobdeloyd"

Wars didn’t just end overnight.

Sometimes, Zoe thought, if they had known just how much _bureaucracy_ was coming, they might not have surrendered at Serenity Valley.

The Alliance had promised no prosecution or punishment for the now-former Browncoats, but that didn’t mean they were in any hurry to process their former enemies. The camps were officially _Demobilization Centers_ and other than waiting until they were processed, the former rebels had absolutely nothing to do while they were there.

By the end of the second week, when Mal still wouldn’t leave his bunk, Zoe took to wandering the camp. They were allowed to move freely through the barracks area and none of the Alliance troops acknowledged her.

Until – “Excuse me, corporal?”

It was an older man, struggling to wheel a loaded cart across the uneven ground, into the medical building. “Could you give me a hand?” he continued.

“Sure,” Zoe agreed, and between the two of them they managed to wrangle the cart inside. “If you’re looking for the doc, though, we don’t have one. Just a couple of medics.”

“Then it appears I’ve come just in time.” He held out a hand. “Dr. Donald Mallard.”

Zoe didn’t take it. “Alliance?”

“Once,” he said, “very long ago. I’m a civilian now, but my former rank does allow me to go where I choose.”

“And you chose to come here?”

“I did not fight for your cause, I’m afraid, but I know people who did. For their sakes, I mean to give their comrades the medical care they – you – deserve.”

Zoe shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Doc. I’m Alleyne.”

“My friends call me _Ducky_.”

She smiled. “Zoe.”

*

There was nothing actually wrong with Mal, mentally or physically – he was just stubborn and irrational, and Zoe left him to it.

As a result, she found herself spending more and more time in the medical building. She’d had a little first aid training, but Zoe had always been needed more as a soldier than a medic, so she’d never done anything more than hastily apply bandages or hand out painkillers on the battlefield.

Ducky was suck a natural teacher, though, that it took Zoe a few weeks to realize how much she’d been learning. She’d started as just an extra pair of hands, but as the doctor cared for their fellow Browncoats, she found herself called to take blood pressure, monitor temperatures, and mix up medications.

Then one day, without any fanfare, Zoe leaned over and kissed him.

Ducky blinked. “I…”

“What?” she asked, teasing. “You never been kissed before, Doc?”

“I have,” he smiled. “But not for some time, and not by someone so much younger and more beautiful. Was there a reason you did?”

Zoe shrugged. “Bein’ in a place like this… a person can get lonesome.”

“Lonesome enough to proposition an old man?” he teased.

“Not old, _experienced_ ,” she said. “I bet you know just how a woman ought to be touched.”

She was right – he did.

Three days later, their patient took a turn for the worse. He would need to be transferred to the nearest Alliance hospital, and Ducky would go with him.

He stood in his tiny office, now cleared out, holding both of Zoe’s hands in his own. “My dear, thank you for a truly exquisite experience,” he said, but his crisp accented voice, it sounded earnest rather than ridiculous.

Still, Zoe let out a laugh. “First time anyone’s ever called me exquisite.”

“Then it was long overdue.”

She squeezed his hands. “And anyway, I should be thanking you. I’ve been a soldier for so long, it was nice to be seen as a woman.”

“You deserve someone who can see you as _both_.”

Back in the barracks, she found Mal sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling on his boots. “Hey,” he said. “There you are. Ready to go?”

She snorted. “Yeah.”

THE END


End file.
